The present disclosure relates generally to the operation of a central plant for serving building thermal energy loads. The present disclosure relates more particularly to systems and methods for optimizing the operation of one or more subplants of a central plant.
A central plant may include various types of equipment configured to serve the thermal energy loads of a building or building campus (i.e., a system of buildings). For example, a central plant may include heaters, chillers, heat recovery chillers, cooling towers, or other types of equipment configured to provide heating or cooling for the building. Some central plants include thermal energy storage configured to store the thermal energy produced by the central plant for later use.
A central plant may consume resources from a utility (e.g., electricity, water, natural gas, etc.) to heat or cool a working fluid (e.g., water, glycol, etc.) that is circulated to the building or stored for later use to provide heating or cooling for the building. Fluid conduits typically deliver the heated or chilled fluid to air handlers located on the rooftop of the building or to individual floors or zones of the building. The air handlers push air past heat exchangers (e.g., heating coils or cooling coils) through which the working fluid flows to provide heating or cooling for the air. The working fluid then returns to the central plant to receive further heating or cooling and the cycle continues.
As variables such as temperature and humidity vary, the central plant may cycle on or off multiple chillers, heaters, pumps, or cooling towers to provide the varying thermal energy loads of the building. High efficiency equipment can help reduce the amount of energy consumed by the central plant. However, the effectiveness of such equipment is highly dependent on the control technology that is used. It is challenging and difficult to efficiently control a central plant for a building.